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Cross Game is old-fashioned - simple, direct storytelling with a simple, direct visual style. It's a glorious relic -as Adachi himself is, I suppose. Anime has changed - it's got to have moe, BL or some serious shounen action or else it's not going to make a deep imprint with the viewing public. That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it.

Ah my old friend, I think I know exactly which part you are worried about. It's clearest in pp. 12-14 of Chapter 142.

I'm also very concerned. But as many here have pointed out, the anime people appear very respectful of the original material, and are wary of taking too many liberties with it. Let's just wait and see.

This just highlights the pitfall of calling the anime an Adachi work. It's not. As far as I can recall, Adachi has never made an anime. Although it is based on the original story and art of Adachi, the anime is somebody else's work. I'm not saying that to put the anime down. In fact, I'm giving due recognition to the writers and director of the anime, who have done a superb job thus far.

That's understandable Now I know why I don't watch H2 live action since I feel that they are just based on characters, but not the story.

Let's get back to Cross game; I enjoyed the latest episode, as much as starving to know what the next episode will be.

Even if it's a mostly slow filler episode that's more of a setup for the next one, next week can't come soon enough. Even if Aoba doesn't manage to strike their 4th out, getting in even a single strike coupled with a shocked expression will be the cornerstone of the episode.

That's understandable Now I know why I don't watch H2 live action since I feel that they are just based on characters, but not the story.

You'd be wrong, there. The H2 drama is probably one of the more faithful adaptations of a manga, EVER. They only expanded on the ending, and even that was tastefully done.

That said, the signal to noise ratio is a little high in this thread, these past few days, eh? Can't people focus on the series and stop bitching about technicalities or trying to be arses just for the sake of it? It does get tiresome after a while...

So what if Adachi is not as popular in the west as he is in Japan? He's a japanese dude, who writes and draws for japanese anthologies - and he has a knack for a very specific kind of story, which doesn't seem to be all that big a hit with western audiences. Also, his art style hasn't really changed in over 30 years, or so people might think.
But that doesn't mean we cannot enjoy his works, as people will notice the quality of such and strive to bring them for other fans. So what if there are not twenty different fansubbing groups translating Cross Game? Is it a slight on its quality? I, for one, don't think so.
Is it hard that the series will come out on US DVD's? I think so. Sports-themed animes aren't all that big there, are they? The ones who do get licensed are usually filled with cute girls (Bamboo Blade), or are simply shorter series (One Outs). The Manga scene is even worse, as far as I can tell.

Also, as an aside... the guy's popularity is still in high demand, at least in his home country. Not everyone manages two series at once, one weekly and one monthly, on two of the highest ranking manga anthologies for nothing. Or top ranking on the collected editions, for that matter. So, I don't think his popularity is all that low, even with the modern kids, these days...

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It's always a great time to immerse yourself in Deculture love! All hail the Empress!!!

This should be fine as ac195 now appears to agree with me that his original post:

..isn't adequate and that generational tv habits probably don't account for all of the drastic difference in ratings (as my example showed).

So maybe now we can get into the discussion I intended to start before being sidetracked, which is why the relative popularity of Adachi's story has lessened to such a degree. I've heard the timeslot mentioned as well as the network.

What I'm most interested in knowing is the relative popularity of Adachi himself right now compared to in the Touch era. And I wonder if the national fervor towards baseball in Japan has changed at all in intensity since that decade? Well, considering the decent showing of Ookiku Furikabutte, I don't think the Japanese are losing interest in baseball as Americans seem to be doing. To put it bluntly, what is it that made Touch so popular? (highest rated anime ever, remember). And what has changed to make Cross Game one of the lesser watched anime airing?

IMO Touch is just a better anime for one. Though the times are much different also. There was less selection in the 80s. Series are longer due to higher production cost per anime meaning that only the most popular manga are made into anime. There is also the otaku factor. Also the ecchi anime in the 80s is like Miyuki (another Adachi manga btw) and that by today's standards is nothing. Just shows that taste changes as well with younger generations.

Yes, I still like Touch a little bit better than Cross Game (it's not nostalgia, I watched Touch after beginning Cross Game). I think I just like the characters there a little bit more. Even though I think Cross Game is a better written series overall.

Spoiler for Pseudo spoiler. Only see if you are familiar with Addachi's works, or Theowne will castrate you with his bare teeth:

I started watching Touch myself., I am just starting part II now, but I was pseudo spoiled by one of the persons in this thread when he mentioned that there was a pattern to Adachi's works, and I hate him for that, so I will hunt down that post and give him negative rep. Fear me.

On Touch related news, so far so good. The characterization is nowhere near CG levels, but the story is going good and strong.

The pseudo spoiler was much more explicit than that. I used a lot of euphemisms there so that it was not so obvious, but I will put it under pseudo spoiler tags, so that should stop the newbies from falling into the same trap.

hmm that sounds like a post I typed a month back.... But i don't think I was that specific. Sorry if that actually was me though, but it could be worse, I got pseudo wakaba spoiled...

I read touch after CG too, they are both equal to me quality wise. I love how touch ended, best ending adachi has done (which actually is not saying much sadly) imo, and I hope that CG follows suit. but I think i'll tip my hat to cross game just to pick a favorite.

Also I decided to give CG anime only fans a recommendation on the adachi manga "adventure boys". I've been reading most of adachi's works (i prefer manga) this summer, and I just read this one recently, and I've gotta say even though its short its one of adachi's best works that you MUST read. Its basically everything you love about adachi work minus the sports.

so read it! Even if you prefer anime over manga, its a good 30 minutes spent